Eberspacher Appointed President and CEO of Agricultural Retailers Association

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
May 16, 2001 Floyd Gaibler, 800-535-6272
E-mail: floyd@aradc.org
Or
Terry Moore, 636-394-1805
E-mail: mooretj@swbell.net
Eberspacher Appointed President and CEO of Agricultural Retailers Association
Washington, DC, May 16, 2001 – Jack Eberspacher has been appointed president and chief executive officer of the Agricultural Retailers Association (ARA). The appointment was announced following a special session of ARA’s Executive Committee.
In this position, Mr. Eberspacher will be responsible for directing all activities for the association, including government affairs, member services, communications, marketing and finance activities. In addition, he also will serve as the association’s chief lobbyist, working with ARA’s Washington, D.C., staff on Capitol Hill and with the federal regulatory agencies.
“Jack is clearly the right person to lead ARA as the association completes its transformation to an organization whose primary focus is advocacy,” said Wendell Stratton, ARA’s chairman of the board, and president of Stratton Seed, Inc., Stuttgart, Ark. “We are very excited with Jack’s unique blend of industry experience, involvement in governmental affairs, as well as his integrity, character and vision.”
Prior to joining ARA Mr. Eberspacher was chief executive officer of the National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG). At NAWG he was responsible for the management of the association, the NAWG Foundation and the NAWG WheatPAC. His accomplishments at NAWG include the financial turnaround of the association; the introduction of different operating structures to assist the board of directors by better organizing their various NAWG responsibilities; the positioning of NAWG as a leader in the current Farm Bill debate; leading the hot debate involving differences between the wheat gluten and corn gluten industries (recently he worked closely with legislators and the Bush Administration to secure the president’s signature by the end of this month on a two year extension of the wheat gluten quotas, as recommended by the International Trade Commission); and working with agribusinesses and the EPA to achieve registration of new crop protection products. In addition, he was a member of the Bush/Cheney Agricultural Transition Team.
Before he was with NAWG, he was chief executive officer at the National Grain Sorghum Producers Association, where he was instrumental in guiding the association through the 1995 Farm Bill, helping to avert cuts in support payments that amounted to $90 million annually for sorghum producers. In addition, he has direct agricultural experience as general manager of the 3,200-acre Quercus Farms, Inc., near Atlanta, Ga.
Mr. Eberspacher received a BS in animal science at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Neb., and has coursework for an MBA at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Tex. He resides with his family in the Washington, DC, area.
ARA’s search for a president and CEO began in February. The association completed the move of its headquarters from St. Louis to Washington, DC, last August. The move was made so that the association could concentrate more on advocacy relating to federal government actions affecting the agricultural input industry.
The Agricultural Retailers Association is the national trade organization providing a national voice for the retail sector of the agricultural input industry. ARA is focused on issues and programs that affect the profitability and professionalism of its members.